My mom paid $900. three years ago for a water softener system manufactured (IIRC) by the Nelsen Corporation in Ohio. The system consists of a plastic bin you have to replenish with rock salt and a tall tank that looks like a pressurized scuba-diving air supply.
This system was installed by a very politically important plumbing contractor in her mountain community (you know, the kind of place where there's a dynasty of, well, ridge-runners who have acquired aristocratic status over the centuries). The reason I mention all this is because this guy--and his family--has the reputation of being a PLUPERFECT crackpot.
After begging and pleading with him for two years to be taught how this system really works, I contacted the Nelsen Corp, who at least told me more than this jerk. I was concerned because when I moved in with mom, the "brine tank" (the bin you fill with salt) was so filthy, I immediately disconnected it from the "ionizer?" and started washing it out every other week.
Nelsen Corp as well as King Crackpot claim you don't have to wash the bin, and that scum from the bin never goes into your drinking water. Fine, except there's a cycle specifically named BACKWASH on the "purifier," and I have witnessed water syphoning back from the salt bin into the "purifier" to know either 1) these guys aren't telling me the truth, or (more likely) 2) I have no idea how a water purifier works.
If there is anyone at all here who can describe in layman's language how this 1K piece of crap operates--or doesn't!--I'd appreciate finally learning here. Mom and I are ready to tear the thing out and buy a Brita.